Born, raised and cultivated in the Golden State, Jon Stebbins is a true California man. His family came west in the mid 1800’s and took root in the Livermore Valley about 40 miles to the east of San Francisco. That’s where Jon was born, and it’s where he grew into a pop music fanatic. From day one he was hearing the varied mixture of sounds coming out of Bay Area top 40 radio on KYA and KFRC AM, and as styles evolved he eventually tuned into the early rumblings of alternative radio on KSAN FM. Thanks to the eclectic taste of Jon’s parents who exposed him to jazz, blues, country, and pop records from the 40’s, 50’s and ‘60’s, and his teenage sisters, who pointed the way to 60’s and ‘70’s rock and roll, Jon’s musical palette was unusually diverse at a very young age.
Jon’s obsession with music gained momentum when he found his musical soul mate, a first grade classmate named Tom Alford. The two realized their similar musical interests while waiting in line to see The Beatles new film “A Hard Day’s Night.” At age 8 Alford was already a guitar prodigy, and had a big influence on Jon’s own guitar ambitions. The pair became a guitar strumming/songwriting team before they made it out of the third grade at St. Michael’s parochial school, and by the time they were 13 had formed their first rock band. Fast forward to 1978 Los Angeles. Jon and Tom moved south that year and formed a neo-psychedelic band named The Point. Between the years 1978 and 1985 The Point were a staple of the L.A. music scene and released several well-received independent recordings including their critically celebrated LP “Magic Circle” on Warfrat records. With his ears ringing, and his spirit burned out on playing live music Jon left the performing end of the music business in 1985. But his love for pop music remained strong and his quest for knowledge was just beginning.
Over the next decade Jon became one of the country’s leading experts on vintage pop sound recordings, and rare music memorabilia. His tenure as a dealer of rare records greatly expanded his frame of reference regarding the rich history of popular music. With the hands on experience of performing, composing, and recording music already behind him, and the depth of knowledge gained from developing expertise as a collectables dealer…that left one musical element unexplored…writing about it. Throughout the late 80’s and ‘90’s Jon wrote occasional record reviews, liner notes, and band bios. He was a limited contributor to several national music publications, and several books, but only thought of writing as a sideline to his collecting ambitions. That would all change in the year 2000.
On April 16, 2000 Jon became an internationally known author with the publication of his first book “Dennis Wilson, The Real Beach Boy”. The book was an instant critical and commercial success launching Jon into an exciting new career phase. Since then Jon has written articles, celebrity website and musician bios, developed script concepts, and worked on two new books. He also had success as a co- organizer of 2003’s Dennis Wilson Bash event, and has most recently been a creative contributor on two of this season’s primetime BBC television shows.
Spring 2007 finds Jon’s latest book The Lost Beach Boy published by media giant Virgin in worldwide hardback form. Stay tuned to Jon’s website for all the big announcements to come. Jon Stebbins © 2004 - 2007
